2011. You meet up with an old college friend for a meal and then decide to take her to laser tag. You both realize after the fact that this was absolutely a date. 15 years later, you're married with three kids and they're old enough to go to Shadowland. Let's go! I was sad when the Columbia location closed down, but Gaithersburg is still rocking and I think this arena is far more interesting than the Columbia one. The arena is the right level of dark with fog machines running too. There are several platforms with various access ramps. My favorite details is that a few platforms have a grate where players can shoot down at others below (watch out, they can shoot up at you too!). There are always rapid fire and mega power Gems for upgrades and a third that rotates by game (invisibility, invulnerability, dark thief), so definitely sign up for 3 games if you can to experience the full rotation. The prices are reasonable, especially in today's economy. There is a water cooler to refresh yourself between games, because you will work up a sweat between the crouching and quick moving around while wearing a phaser pack. It's our favorite workout, to be honest. There is an arcade with a variety of games, including prize games, driving games, and shooting games. The main area also has concessions to snack on. Overall, if you want some workout and fun, check out Shadowland. read more

Shadowland - Child #1 loving his first time playing laser tag! - Arcades Near Me - Gaithersburg, Maryland

My son had his birthday party here. Him and he's friends had a great time. The staff are extremely helpful, friendly and attentive. The party room was clean and easy to decoration. The laser tag area and equipment looked good and was approved by the kids. They played two rounds and ate in between. It was a very successful party and according to my son his favorite one. We also got ice cream cake from them and it was good. I would recommend for children's parties. read more

Shadowland - Arcades Near Me - Gaithersburg, Maryland

Had my daughter's birthday party here and it was great! The last time I came to shadowland I was a kid and celebrating a friend's birthday. Nearly 30 years later and it's the same high intensity fun for our kids. I even joined them for the second game it really brought me back. The service was good. The kids working the desk, laser tag and front desk were well mannered and helpful. Of all the venues we have had birthday parties for my kids. This was the least labor intensive as a parent with the highest amount of smiles from the kids and other parents. Easy 5 stars! read more

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We just had our kid's birthday party here, and while I appreciated that everything was taken care of (food, drinks, plates, cups, etc) the actual laser tag was a disaster for our group of 9-10 year olds. They were combined with another party of older kids, and some of those kids were pushing my kid and his friends down on the ground and cursing and generally making it not a fun experience at all. Some of them tried to alert staff, who did nothing at all about it. I would not have a party here again, unfortunately. read more

We held my 10-yo's birthday party at Shadowland, and I felt obliged to let people know what to expect. The good is that the front staff at Shadowland are pleasant and try to be helpful, and our party host was great. Drinks that we had ordered came on time and were plentiful. However, we didn't have access to our party room until 5-10 min after the time window, which left me feeling stressed, even though the kids ran around the lobby without too much worry. We also had a pretty big deal where the vests for my child and several of her guests didn't work for the second of two games. They tried asking staff for help and were told to "just keep shooting until it works!" Apparently, this advice came with some rolled eyes and/or irritation, because my child was in tears, and she is typically pretty stoic. Not a great outcome for a birthday! The manager took on the feedback and intends to provide additional staff training, but we still paid full price for all guests for two games (no offered recompense)... I still love the idea of Shadowland, but my constructive comments are that they may need a combo of some training, some investment in equipment upkeep, and some changes to how closely events are scheduled to ensure more pleasant hosting. read more

Celebrated my 8 year olds birthday here! It was so easy! Highly recommend! The staff was so nice and everything went smoothly. Thank you

Terrible place. I came here years ago and it was great but now it is so bad. Had to wait around 10 to 15 min before someone even came to greet us. The manager seemed like he didn't want to be there and was rude. My gun broke 2 times and barely got to play the game. Overall horrible experience and would never come here again. read more

The experience wasvery fun the laser lag was huge and the arcacade my be small at first but is still nice

Very fun and good value. The Man-ager, Diondre, was very helpful and accommodating. He got us three games in even though a lot of our group came late. 10/10 manager. His assistant, Henry, was kinda "inebriated" on something. He phoned it in a little, but was still funny. Kinda like your average Dave Chappelle Special. Ps., DON"T go under the ramps! There is creepy old stuff under there. read more

Just had my two boy's' birthday parties here. Had a bit of nostalgia as I was able to bring my kids to a place that I used to go in my youth. Looks just like the way I remembered it, including the signage! The staff were very courteous and accommodating, even helping us unload the car and carrying supplies back. Our group played in the arena with another party that was going on at the same time-- it ended up being really fun mixing up the groups. The party room was on the smaller side, but it accommodated all our needs so no complaints there. Overall, everyone had fun, even the parents who enjoyed some friendly competition with the kids. One of the biggest advantage was that we were allowed to bring our own food and not required to buy through the venue. We brought in the food that we like and it was a win all around. We will definitely consider future parties here! read more

Terrible birthday party experience. I won't name names but the person J who helped w our party was terrible. Why do you have him working there? Is help hard to find? I basically had to manage the party myself including going to get pitchers of drinks, getting the lighter for the cake, lighting the cake and had to cut and serve the pizza and cake myself. Thankfully there was another mother who was able to help me with 13 rowdy tween and teen boys. Not at all worth the cost. Maybe just rent the space out to parties and let folks bring and do their own. When I asked J why he wasn't helping he said he was working another party at the same time and then left and never returned. I won't host another party here no matter how badly my child wants to. read more

I had my son 14th birthday here today. This place was nice and organized as far as getting the kids in the game. The staff was very helpful and friendly. The manager was very friendly and patient. I will definitely visit again. read more

Amazing time- Shannon and Kathy took great care of our group. Saturday and Friday nights are good.

Kind of boring and out of date technology. Seemed run down they should transform this space into an arena for virtual reality. read more

LASER TAG!! This place looks like it is stuck in the 90s with all of the cheesy decorations, but is a fun thing to do with your friends even if you are a 20-something year old adult. However, if you go on the weekends, beware of those little monsters called children running around everywhere and screaming. You will most likely be playing with/against them. Don't bother strategizing with them because they won't listen so it's pretty much every man, woman, and child for themselves. There is only one gaming room and each game takes about 15 minutes. Before each game starts, they will teach you how to put on the pack, use the gun, and shoot the gems. Make sure your pack works and is the one that you are actually assigned to because God knows those kids can put the packs back correctly. Once the game starts, just start shooting the lit bulbs of the other team, and don't forget to shoot the gems for a special surprise! It's definitely a workout if you let your competitive side take over. You'll find yourself squatting, running, and even crawling to avoid getting shot at. When the game is over, they will print out a stat sheet for each player to see where you rank and all of your hits. The place and equipment is pretty old and needs to be upgraded, but it's still worth playing every now and then. It's about $8 per game, but they have group discounts. They also have birthday deals. read more

I've been going there for 10 years and has been a highlight of my childhood. Always great with a group of friends!

We celebrated my sons 7th birthday here and had a blast. We had only 7 people play due to not many RSVPs so I spoke to manager about allowing some of the kids to play more times because I would still be charged for 9 people (the minimum amount for a party). He was very accomodating and advised me right away that we would figure out a plan. After our first game, my party assistant advised me that the manager would only charge us for 7 people instead of the required 9, which saved me $42! I was beyond thrilled. The schedule was maintained the whole time. We played 2 games and we were out in 2 hours. Highly recommend! It was great and my son and his friends had a blast:) read more

I had my sons 9th birthday party here today and it was very well run, clean, easy to manage. You can bring in your own outside food. I would highly recommend. read more

Not personally a fan of laser tag but the kids have had, and have gone to, many a party here and a good time is always had by all. Equipment is a bit used and sometimes worn but so long as you check it out during the prep, you should be good to go. read more

I had a party there on Saturday and it was hectic but the staffs were amazing and manager was very with my son's party

I recently attended my friend's 25th birthday party at Shadowland. I haven't been here in about 10 years or so, but had a great time. The people who worked here were super nice and awesome to us and explained the rules and different kinds of games really well. We played 2 games and it was a blast. The course is large and well built. It is dark but your eyes should adjust to it and as long as you're not an idiot and running around manically, you shouldn't be running into walls. The rules are pretty simple: no foul language (though they don't REALLY care), no running, stay on your feet, and no unsportsmanlike behavior (which apparently is the most popular rule broken). I think there were a few more but that's the general gist, which is common sense. Basically, don't be an idiot and don't make the game suck for others. I'm impressed at how quickly it takes for them to print out our stats. I learned a lot...like how much ammo I use (not a lot) and how sucky my aim is, haha. We also had a party room where water and soda were provided. My friend's fiancee brought a cookie cake and it was a good place to take a break between our games. I think this place could attract a lot of adults if it also served beer/alcohol, or had a BYOB option. Never underestimate the feeling of nostalgia! read more

Remember when laser tag came out in the 80's? It was so insanely high-tech back then. I mean, think about it...it was tag, but with a FRICKIN' LASER!!! I begged my mom to get that for me. She didn't think it was an appropriate toy for a young girl who really should be spending more time practicing her violin and less time watching commercials. Then the cartoon came out on Saturday mornings. Man, I was so addicted to that cartoon, and my desire to play laser tag grew to nearly an obsession. Sadly, none of the kids I was allowed to play with (all good little Chinese girls who enjoyed practicing violin over watching mindless TV) had the laser tag set. But in my dreams...oh the battles I had...! Years goes by, and I have moved on. Still...still, there is part of me that always yearned. So imagine the rapture my twisted little soul experienced when a laser tag "arena" opened up a mere 10 minutes from me! Finally! Fortunately, the (lame) guy I was dating at the time was the uberest of uber geeks. The two of us went to Shadowlands so often that we not only knew all the staffers by name, but we also knew who would be working on which day...and a few times, we gave the little spiel about how to use the equipment (in addition to the gun, you also have a chest piece) to the n00bs when the staff was busy. I know. Pathetic, right? But there you go. In the beginning Shadowlands was actually pretty cool. Most of the players that came were uber geeks like we were. Geeks, but at least adults. Or companies who would book events here as "team building" activities. Again, adults. The arena was dark, with carpeted ramps and hidden little nooks and crannies everywhere, and when you showed up for a game, it was always an epic pitched battle that everyone would be talking about and arguing over drinks, for hours afterwards. But then...the kids came (kids ruin everything!). Parents started booking their kids' birthday parties here on Saturday afternoons. Fine, we just learned to avoid the place on Saturdays. But then it extended into Sundays. Then after school...and before you know it, the entire place now infested with kids. Before anyone asks why having kids in laser tag is bad - I just want you to think of your last paintball game (or your last LAN party...or the last time you had the guys over to watch the game). See how fun it was? How free you were? How you cursed and mocked and taunted your friends? OK. Now picture that fun event...with kids. Yeah. You see how the cursing and mocking and taunting would have to stop? Plus, the kids never abided by the "rules", and would randomly shoot people - including you, if you were on their team. Friendly fire my butt! So now, again, my laser tag dreams have been dashed. Shadowlands has been taken over by sticky, whiny 8 year olds, whose mothers give you dirty looks if you dared to try to tell their precious little snot-rag that they can't shoot at their own teammates. In short - Shadowlands, bad for geeky adults who wish to live their dreams of laser tag glory...but good for annoying, overprotective mothers to throw their 8 year old a party. P.S. I know it seems that I hate children - I really don't. I hate parents who let their kids become unmannered, over privileged brats who need either a good spanking or solitary confinement in juvie-hall. read more

If you are looking for a healthy way to vent your psychopathic tendencies, come here! The laser guns are innocuous and inflict no harm beyond crushing the hopes and dreams of a high school nerd. The employees do not get enough credit for their ability to organize play sessions on the fly. On any given weekend night, they have to organize two large group parties of 20+, walk-in groups of about 4 to 10 people, and a few couples on a date night. Those high school minimum wage workers really know what they are doing. Someone give them distinguished honor roll! If you want to become an expert at laser tagging, read Sun Tzu's The Art of War. You will find its military strategy and tactics are applicable here. -Maintain a higher ground over your opponents -Know who you can trust, know who you cannot -Flanking your opponents when they are vulnerable -Be willing to sacrifice for the greater good and send in scouts to gain intel It is about $8 for group play. $20 for triple play. The play session are the fastest 15 minutes. The phasers display everything you need to know. Don't waste your time with the gems unless they are about to shoot you. read more

I consider myself a lazer-tag expert. Why? Because I had my 10th birthday party at a 'Q-zar, bought a Q-zar hat with my birthday money, and wore it for 2 years until Q-zar hats went out of style and shell necklaces took over with an vengeance. Haha just kidding. Q-zar hats were never in style. It's time for another episode of PROS and CONS! Pro: Invited to play lazer tag in my late 20's? YES PLEASE! Will it take me back to the zealous days of my youth, or rank right up there with 'walking up the stairs' in reminding me how old and outta shape I am? Con: I think they call it Shadowlands because the location hides in the shadows and eludes you like a passageway in Hogwarts. No signs from the main road point you there, and you could park 30 feet from the door and never know it. I wish I could give you some tips for finding it. Do what I did and arrive fashionably late you you can have your buddy find it first. Pro: Very accommodating manager. Waited patiently while 7 people paid by credit-card for each person/couple in our group, entering our nicknames and organizing us into teams... Con:...giving me some time to look around. To one side some arcade games, some snacks that I would only eat under life-threatening circumstances behind the counter, and some party rooms that were empty on a weeknight. Without the parties and with the DnD-esque space decorations, it was dark and depressing. Pro: Very chill staff member took us back to what could best be described as a briefing room. I felt like the Rebel Alliance in Episode IV "I used to bull's-eye womp rats in my T-16 back home." (You know what I'm talkin' bout!) He explained the lazer-tag equipment, scoring, and gameplay to us in about 10 minutes, gave us our guns and vests, and took us into the arena. Con: My vest either ran out of battery charge or shut down two times. I had to stop playing, walk to the chair where the staffer was sitting, and have him walk me back to the briefing room and get me a new vest. I missed about 10 minutes of the half hour match time doing this. Pro: There are decent options within the games; you earn credits by tagging enemies, and you can use those credits to buy rapid-fire and invincibility. We chose to play 'infinite ammo' option. Con: The system botched our second game, and eliminated the top scorers from the other team. It turns out that knowing you won isn't as great as seeing that you won on a computer screen. Overall, decent experience, but nothing special. I'd go back because i don't know where else to go for this particular activity. read more

Two questions: 1. How dare you? 2. What the hell? Someone should sit down with Mr. Cesar and have a come to Jesus--or whoever his Savior of choice is. I'm all for employing people north of 13-years-old, but a little explanation before going into a battlefield of lasers would be optimal. We had no idea. None. Zero. When asked, we were told that we should've raised hand--you know, like school children. This was following one of our group saying we'd never done this before. So... two suggestions: training and maybe some Bible study. Peace and blessings. read more

I would love to give this place 5 stars but I just can't. It is a great place to go and it's fun when you do. The issue is nothing ever changes. The only upgrade I noticed after not going for 2 years was the guns were made to make you keep 2 hands on the gun to fire. Play 1 round against kids who hold hands in front of sensors and this upgrade you will be thankful for. The terrain never changes, nor do the games or design. I'm not asking for much but after what has to be 10 or more years now, it's time for a change. My only other quarrel is that 1/2 the time you go with more then 2 or 3 people one or more of you are bound to have some sort of technical issues. Most of the time the victim will receive a free game coupon but little good that does when your group is done playing and you missed your turn and they don't want to spend more money to play again when you should have been included in the first place. I know a few times I've gotten a free game credit yet lose it before returning, which may be a reason they hand them out so often. The past 2 times I went with my 3 brothers either myself or my brother couldn't play 2 or more of the 3 games because of pack issues. So out of 6 games played we only once played all together. I'll go back eventually but only after the need to play outweighs the issues I know I'll have. Who knows. read more

I've been going to shadowland for years it's definitely a good and fun place for social events and group outings My favorite game is capture the flag read more

I won't go into all the things that went wrong. First I called to see if it would be a problem to bring a group of 13 to play on a Saturday night from 8-10. I was told we did not need reservations we should be fine. I got there at 8:15 and was told it was a 2 hour wait and we could only do one game. I told the manager about the phone conversation then we were told it would be a little over an hour wait. 2 hours later we got to play. They didn't mention on the phone that they don't take reservations its first come first served. Had we known that we might have planned an earlier trip. ITwice we were lied to which prevents me from ever wanting to return. My sons friend was Badly injured as well and came out with a huge knot on his head. They gave him ice but then got all worried when they couldn't find his waiver. Go at your own risk when you have a lot of time to kill read more

I started this review about 2 years ago. Called on a Saturday to see if they had an opening for a birthday party. They only schedule parties on week days after 11:00 am. Left a number to be called back. Monday morning called about 11:30 to see if there was a time slot available. Was told that they had to call the other people who left messages first before giving me a time. I don't like this. Fast forward to now. The kids really love this place. Been to five more birthday parties here. Based on how much they enjoy this, I'm raising my rating from ** to ****. read more

Went recently with some adult friends. We used to come here as kids and returned for nostalgia. First off, the place no longer has a thick fog of smoke that smells like weed. That's new from 10 years ago. Also, the place was decently packed, enough so that they could have 3 groups for the games, instead of the same group going over and over with no breaks for the bathroom, snacks, and most importantly, checking the stats sheets to see how many times you "killed" your buddies. The staff was great. Whatever issues we had with playing together, or equipment malfunctions, they took care of it quickly. The loss of a star was because on our second game, one of friend's vest didn't work. She swapped it out a half dozen times before giving up, so they have a bunch of vests that don't work. That's not new. I don't know if she asked for a refund though. If not, obviously this place would drop down to 1 star, but if they did or would, 4 stars feel just right. read more

My family and I were so concerned that shadowland was not going to open back up. My son grew up playing at this location and we had several birthday parties here, which all our guests loved. When the pandemic hit we thought that these closures were only going to be short and temporary and then weeks turned into months and well, you know the story. After everything opened back up we were excited to go back to playing laser tag but they were still closed. We feared the worst that they would not open back up. My family was so ecstatic when we got the news from a friend that Shadowland was open so we went and had a blast. We played game after game and forgot how much fun this place really is. The staff is warm and friendly and makes the place so much fun for the entire family. I was happy to see my son sweating a little instead of being at home on the computer. read more

We had a party of 31 (yes, 31!! 10-year-olds) and it ran smoothly. Two games in two hours, pizza and cake. Staff were attentive and kind. All the kids had a blast. I love the score cards they receive at the end so they see how they did. The kids love them, too. I'm not sure I could've handled a party of that many kids for two hours at any other location. Plus, it was so fun! We've been here as walk-in's as well (on other dates), always fun. Thanks for making my son's party a success! read more

I came here for my niece birthday party. Everything ran very smooth and everyone loved it. My little one got a little scared in the dark but had a blast playing with their arcade games and other things. Also the staff was really nice helping my niece's party because she had a broken arm the day before. read more

I do not rate anything five stars unless it is an incredible experience. This gets a five-star rating only because I can't give it six stars. Triple play for less than twenty bucks when you have five other buddies with you. YOU CAN'T BEAT THAT WITH A BAT. In addition, when one of your buddies is a total n00b and hasn't ever played before, the staff require you to go through a quick briefing on how to play the game and how to use the pack and what all the little lights and noises are. THEN you go into their huge frikkin' dark arena and IT IS TOTAL MAYHEM, BOYYEEEE!! I took a few guys from my paintball team in here after we had a s***ty experience at some other laser tag joint down in VA. They gave us a capture the flag game. WE DESTROYED THE OTHER TEAM. And the whole time they had this awesome music in the background with fog and lights and un-tiss un-tiss un-tiss did I mention the pumping music?? read more

This is a great place for kids but not so great for adults. It's like Chucky Cheese on steroids as far as noise and chaos. This place was made a hundred and 50% strictly for kids there's nothing for an adult to do other than to sit in the party room and wait. It's $190 only for three hours and they got you on a tight time schedule. The only thing that's included in this besides playing laser tag is soda. Good luck read more

I grew up here. I'm the little Vietnamese girl who came from JJ nail salon. It's the best place I could ever imagine being in. Thank you for letting me be there with how annoying I was. I miss you guys so much. Thank you for everything. read more

My roomie had her 28th birthday at this place and holy crap it was amazing! There were maybe 30 of us and Shadowland was not only accommodating but understanding of our desire for laser carnage. Atop that they let us bring in beer, and I have to say, that really ramped the night up. We were given options on what kind of games we wanted to play, we had our own party room, score print outs, we got sweet group shot pictures, and we got t shirts to commemorate our combat experience. the place is multilevel, they don't ding you for cussing, and there are bars close by so a little pregame courage be mustered up. read more

This is our third year coming to Shadowland as a group bonding activity for our group of summer camp counselors. Tonight, we had an issue, one which we experienced last year as well. When we come, we are interested in friendly competition among our coworkers, a simple two team game. We are all young, college and high school students that put aside some of our paychecks to come and have a good time. However, last year and this year we have run into similar issues. People not in our group, people that are ridiculously good at laser tag, come in, force us to play a game with a style more complicated and competitive than we were interested in, and make the game far less enjoyable. Tonight especially, the worker who ran our games was walking around heckling us, cheering his friend on, bragging about how much better he was than the rest of us. I understand that anyone is welcome to come and play, but when it's friends of the workers, specifically coming to play to make the game unfair and honestly un-fun. We will not be returning next year, as this happened for the second year in a row. If you have a younger group of kids, this is likely a nonissue, but for older groups coming in, your enjoyment may be diminished by this occurring. read more

I've come to shadowland off and on in spurts for half my life now. I have to say that I've had more than one instance where my equipment did not work. The manager on duty is always happily willing to grant you an extra game pass, not only have they taken care of me, they've given my friends accompanying me extra passes as well! Their professionalism is great and the managerial staff is always excellent. I hope that some day they are still around when I have kids. read more

My sons love having their birthday parties here. This weekend was the 4th time in 3 years that we've held a party at Shadowland and I think it will be our last. This place is out to get each and every dime from you but they aren't reinvesting the money in maintaining their equipment. Each and every game there are equipment failures that take time to fix and it ruins that player's game. Every party we've had it has affected my kids, myself or my husband in addition to our guests. We booked a party for up to 15. I was told at time of registration that I would only be charged for the number of guests that played and would not be responsible for paying for 15. We had 14 players plus an older sibling of a guest that was paid for separately upon registration. When it came time to pay the bill at the end, we were also charged for the sibling. I challenged this but the mom who paid had left so I didn't have her receipt as proof. Basically, we were charged twice for this sibling. I could tell that the guy who was billing me was getting pleasure out of getting away with it. Since we had to have the party room cleaned out, I didn't have time to pursue this further. I'm not really a frugal person nor a person who usually challenges items on a bill but it was the principle of him knowingly overcharging me that was sleazy. My advice to others having parties is to pay attention to the number of guests you have and pay the bill before your guests leave to avoid being overcharged. On a positive note, this time we had a great party attendant, Spencer. If you read all this and still want to have your party here, at least ask for Spencer. (Some of the attendants we've had in the past weren't so great.) read more